Low Pressure Drop Oxygen Flow Meter for the PLSS

The portable life support system (PLSS) of the advanced extravehicular mobility unit (AEMU) provides the necessary environment for a crew member to operate within the space suit. Within the PLSS, the oxygen ventilation loop provides carbon dioxide washout, gas temperature control, humidity control, and trace contaminant removal. Historically, there have been issues with the measurement of air flow for the oxygen ventilation loop. With the Apollo EMU, there were humidity issues with the implemented flow meter. For the Space Shuttle/ISS EMU, the flow sensor was a flapper/microswitch combination that only measured a discrete threshold for flow. The proposed innovation allows for continuous air flow measurement from 1 to 8 acfm with static pressures of 3.5 to 25 psia in the pure oxygen environment. This new method meets the low pressure drop requirement and allows operation beyond low earth orbit (LEO) with radiation hardened electronics. An engineering demonstration unit (EDU) will be developed during Phase II. Compact Oxygen Compatible Averaging Pitot Tube – The proposed averaging pitot tube is an accurate low pressure drop solution allowing for operation in the oxygen ventilation loop of the portable life support system.  Compact Oxygen Compatible Differential Pressure Transducer – An electromagnetic based differential pressure transducer is proposed to accurately measure the wide range of the averaging pitot tube output.  This transducer includes a high turndown range from 0.001 inH2O to 10 inH2O. Additive Manufactured Inconel – Inconel provides strong corrosion resistant structure and is suitable to operate in the oxygen environment of the advanced spacesuit.  3D-printing of Inconel allows for rapid prototyping of an all-in-one instrument including the small features of the averaging pitot tube. Radiation Hardened Electronics Suite – The differential pressure transducer bias and signal conditioning, as well as the support electronics will be radiation hardened according to the expected radiation environment internal to the PLSS. Technical Objectives To determine optimum APT configuration for operation in ideal and non-ideal flow fields under the expected AEMU PLSS operating conditions. To develop a differential pressure transducer capable of measuring the APT output for all expected operational flow rates and static pressures. Develop an integrated engineering demonstration unit (EDU) that interfaces to planned AEMU PLSS subsystems (e.g. mechanical, power, and data). Verify the EDU using gas consisting of the following expected PLSS operating conditions. Provide a design for system operation beyond low earth orbit. Work Plan Summary Task 1:    Project Management & Administration Task 2:    Systems Engineering Task 3:    Averaging Pitot Tube Optimization Task 4:    Eddy Current Differential Pressure Transducer Development Task 5:    Electronic Module Development Task 6:    Test System Development Task 7:    EDU Enclosure Task 8:    EDU Integration & Verification (O=O Flowmeter™ EDU deliverable)

PLSS Ventilation Loop O2 Flowmeter ECLSS O2 Flowmeter GOX Flowmeter for Thrusters Crop Production Systems for Crew Food Space Science & Biological Investigations Harsh Environment Flowmeter Harsh Environment Differential Pressure Transducer Commercial Space ECLSS Commercial Spacesuits Commercial GOX Flowmeter for Thrusters Industrial Gas Processing Plants Aircraft & Submersibles

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